Methods of forming contacts for source/drain regions and a contact plug for a gate stack of a finFET device are disclosed herein. Methods include etching a contact opening through a dielectric layer to expose surfaces of a first source/drain contact and repairing silicon oxide structures along sidewall surfaces of the contact opening and along planar surfaces of the dielectric layer to prevent selective loss defects from occurring during a subsequent selective deposition of conductive fill materials and during subsequent etching of other contact openings. The methods further include performing a selective bottom-up deposition of conductive fill material to form a second source/drain contact. According to some of the methods, once the second source/drain contact has been formed, the contact plug may be formed over the gate stack.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A method, comprising: forming a first opening through a dielectric layer over a first source/drain contact, sidewalls of the first opening being damaged; repairing damage on the sidewalls of the first opening utilizing an oxidizing environment; depositing a first conductive fill material in the first opening using a directional deposition process; after depositing the first conductive fill material in the first opening, forming a second opening through the dielectric layer over a gate electrode; and depositing a second conductive fill material in the second opening.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the repairing damage on the sidewalls of the first opening comprises reconstructing silicon oxide structures at the sidewalls of the first opening.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the reconstructing the silicon oxide structures comprises forcing oxygen atoms to bond to exposed silicon atoms at the sidewalls of the first opening.
4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the forming the first opening comprises performing an anisotropic reactive ion etching process using a fluorocarbon molecule as a first precursor and using a nitrogen molecule as a second precursor.
5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising: after the reconstructing the silicon oxide structures and before the depositing the first conductive fill material, performing a hydrogen plasma treatment to remove an oxide layer from a surface of the first source/drain contact through the first opening.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the depositing the first conductive fill material deposits tungsten.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein after the forming the second opening through the dielectric layer, surfaces on sidewalls of the second opening are damaged and wherein the depositing the second conductive fill material in the second opening is performed without repairing damage on the sidewalls of the second opening.
8. A method, comprising: etching a first via opening through an insulating layer to expose a surface of a conductive contact to a source/drain region of a finFET device, sidewall surfaces of the first via opening being damaged during the etching the first via opening; restoring damage on the sidewalls of the first via opening; and forming a conductive plug through the first via opening and in physical contact with the conductive contact using a bottom-up deposition process; after forming the conductive plug, forming a second via opening through the insulating layer over a gate electrode; and depositing a second conductive fill material in the second via opening.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the restoring the damage further comprises performing an oxidation surface treatment.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the performing the oxidation surface treatment further comprises performing a rapid thermal oxide treatment.
11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the performing the oxidation surface treatment further comprises performing a plasma oxide surface treatment.
12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising, after the restoring the damage and before the forming the conductive plug, performing a hydrogen plasma treatment to remove an oxide layer from a surface of the conductive contact through the first via opening.
13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the etching the first via opening comprises performing an anisotropic plasma etching process using a combination of fluorocarbon and hydrogen as an etchant.
14. The method of claim 8 , wherein after the forming the second via opening through the insulating layer, sidewall surfaces of the second via opening are damaged, and wherein depositing the second conductive fill material in the second via opening is performed without restoring damage on the sidewalls of the second via opening.
15. A method, comprising: forming a first metallization layer over a source/drain region of a finFET device; depositing an etch stop layer over the first metallization layer; depositing an isolation layer over the etch stop layer; etching a first via opening through the isolation layer and the etch stop layer to expose a contact area of the first metallization layer, silicon oxide structures at sidewall surfaces of the first via opening being damaged during the etching the first via opening; reconstructing the silicon oxide structures at the sidewall surfaces of the first via opening; depositing a first metallic pillar in the first via opening and in physical contact with the contact area of the first metallization layer; and after forming the first metallic pillar, forming a second metallic pillar through the isolation layer and in physical contact with a gate electrode of the finFET device.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the etching a first via opening comprises an overetch into the first metallization layer, wherein the overetch forms an undercut between the first metallization layer and a bottom surface of the etch stop layer.
17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising, after the reconstructing the silicon oxide structures and before the depositing a first metallic pillar, performing a hydrogen plasma treatment to remove an oxide layer from the first metallization layer through the first via opening.
18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the reconstructing the silicon oxide structures comprise performing an oxidation surface treatment on the sidewall surfaces of the first via opening.
19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the performing the oxidation surface treatment comprises performing a rapid thermal oxide treatment on the sidewall surfaces of the first via opening.
20. The method of claim 15 , wherein the forming the second metallic pillar further comprises: forming a second via opening and exposing a contact area on the gate electrode; and depositing the second metallic pillar in the second via opening and in physical contact with the contact area of the gate electrode without reconstructing silicon oxide structures at sidewall surfaces of the second via opening.
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April 17, 2019
August 24, 2021
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